A posteriori error estimation for Magnus-type integrators

Abstract

We study high-order Magnus-type exponential integrators for large systems of ordinary differential equations defined by a time-dependent skew-Hermitian matrix. We construct and analyze defect-based local error estimators as the basis for adaptive stepsize selection. The resulting procedures provide a posteriori information on the local error and hence enable the accurate, efficient, and reliable time integration of the model equations. The theoretical results are illustrated on two numerical examples.